ProjectThe Global as Artefact: Understanding the Patterns of Global Political History Through an Anthropology of Knowledge -- The Case of Agriculture in Four Global Systems from the Neolithic to the Present

Researcher (PI)INANNA HAMATI-ATAYA

Host Institution (HI)THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

Call DetailsConsolidator Grant (CoG), SH2, ERC-2016-COG

SummaryKnowledge is an anthropological constant that is indissociable from the birth and interactions of human societies, but is at best a secondary concern for scholars of international relations and globalization. Contemporary global studies are thus unable to account for the co-constitution of knowledge and politics at a macro-scale, and remain especially blind to the historical patterns of epistemic development that operate at the level of the species as a whole and have shaped its global political history in specific, path-dependent ways up to now.
ARTEFACT is the first project to pursue a knowledge-centered investigation of global politics. It is uniquely grounded in an anthropological approach that treats globalization and human knowledges beyond their modern manifestations, from the longue-durée perspective of our species’ social history. 'The global as artefact' is more than a metaphor. It reflects the premise that human collectives 'make' the political world not merely through ideas, language, or norms, but primordially through the material infrastructures, solutions, objects, practices, and skills they develop in response to evolving structural challenges.
ARTEFACT takes agriculture as an exemplary and especially timely case-study to illuminate the entangled global histories of knowledge and politics, analyzing and comparing four increasingly inclusive 'global political systems' of the Ancient, Medieval, Modern, and Contemporary eras and their associated agrarian socio-epistemic revolutions.
ARTEFACT ultimately aims to 1) develop an original theory of the global, 2) launch Global Knowledge Studies as a new cross-disciplinary domain of systematic empirical and theoretical study, and 3) push the respective boundaries of the anthropology of knowledge, global history, and international theory beyond the state-of-the-art and toward a holistic understanding that can illuminate how past trends of socio-epistemic evolution might shape future paths of global life.

Knowledge is an anthropological constant that is indissociable from the birth and interactions of human societies, but is at best a secondary concern for scholars of international relations and globalization. Contemporary global studies are thus unable to account for the co-constitution of knowledge and politics at a macro-scale, and remain especially blind to the historical patterns of epistemic development that operate at the level of the species as a whole and have shaped its global political history in specific, path-dependent ways up to now.
ARTEFACT is the first project to pursue a knowledge-centered investigation of global politics. It is uniquely grounded in an anthropological approach that treats globalization and human knowledges beyond their modern manifestations, from the longue-durée perspective of our species’ social history. 'The global as artefact' is more than a metaphor. It reflects the premise that human collectives 'make' the political world not merely through ideas, language, or norms, but primordially through the material infrastructures, solutions, objects, practices, and skills they develop in response to evolving structural challenges.
ARTEFACT takes agriculture as an exemplary and especially timely case-study to illuminate the entangled global histories of knowledge and politics, analyzing and comparing four increasingly inclusive 'global political systems' of the Ancient, Medieval, Modern, and Contemporary eras and their associated agrarian socio-epistemic revolutions.
ARTEFACT ultimately aims to 1) develop an original theory of the global, 2) launch Global Knowledge Studies as a new cross-disciplinary domain of systematic empirical and theoretical study, and 3) push the respective boundaries of the anthropology of knowledge, global history, and international theory beyond the state-of-the-art and toward a holistic understanding that can illuminate how past trends of socio-epistemic evolution might shape future paths of global life.

Max ERC Funding

1 428 165 €

Duration

Start date: 2017-09-01, End date: 2022-08-31

Project acronymBYONIC

ProjectBeyond the Iron Curtain

Researcher (PI)Alessandro TAGLIABUE

Host Institution (HI)THE UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL

Call DetailsConsolidator Grant (CoG), PE10, ERC-2016-COG

SummaryAs one of the largest carbon reservoirs in the Earth system, the ocean is central to understanding past, present and future fluctuations in atmospheric carbon dioxide. In this context, microscopic plants called phytoplankton are key as they consume carbon dioxide during photosynthesis and transfer part of this carbon to the ocean’s interior and ultimately the lithosphere. The overall abundance of phytoplankton also forms the foundation of ocean food webs and drives the richness of marine fisheries.
It is key that we understand drivers of variations in phytoplankton growth, so we can explain changes in ocean productivity and the global carbon cycle, as well as project future trends with confidence. The numerical models we rely on for these tasks are prevented from doing so at present, however, due to a major theoretical gap concerning the role of trace metals in shaping phytoplankton growth in the ocean. This omission is particularly lacking at regional scales, where subtle interactions can lead to their co-limitation of biological activity. While we have long known that trace metals are fundamentally important to the photosynthesis and respiration of phytoplankton, it is only very recently that the necessary large-scale oceanic datasets required by numerical models have become available. I am leading such efforts with the trace metal iron, but we urgently need to expand our approach to other essential trace metals such as cobalt, copper, manganese and zinc.
This project will combine knowledge of biological requirement for trace metals with these newly emerging datasets to move ‘beyond the iron curtain’ and develop the first ever complete numerical model of resource limitation of phytoplankton growth, accounting for co-limiting interactions. Via a progressive combination of data synthesis and state of the art modelling, I will deliver a step-change into how we think resource availability controls life in the ocean.

As one of the largest carbon reservoirs in the Earth system, the ocean is central to understanding past, present and future fluctuations in atmospheric carbon dioxide. In this context, microscopic plants called phytoplankton are key as they consume carbon dioxide during photosynthesis and transfer part of this carbon to the ocean’s interior and ultimately the lithosphere. The overall abundance of phytoplankton also forms the foundation of ocean food webs and drives the richness of marine fisheries.
It is key that we understand drivers of variations in phytoplankton growth, so we can explain changes in ocean productivity and the global carbon cycle, as well as project future trends with confidence. The numerical models we rely on for these tasks are prevented from doing so at present, however, due to a major theoretical gap concerning the role of trace metals in shaping phytoplankton growth in the ocean. This omission is particularly lacking at regional scales, where subtle interactions can lead to their co-limitation of biological activity. While we have long known that trace metals are fundamentally important to the photosynthesis and respiration of phytoplankton, it is only very recently that the necessary large-scale oceanic datasets required by numerical models have become available. I am leading such efforts with the trace metal iron, but we urgently need to expand our approach to other essential trace metals such as cobalt, copper, manganese and zinc.
This project will combine knowledge of biological requirement for trace metals with these newly emerging datasets to move ‘beyond the iron curtain’ and develop the first ever complete numerical model of resource limitation of phytoplankton growth, accounting for co-limiting interactions. Via a progressive combination of data synthesis and state of the art modelling, I will deliver a step-change into how we think resource availability controls life in the ocean.

Max ERC Funding

1 668 418 €

Duration

Start date: 2017-06-01, End date: 2022-05-31

Project acronymCOMPASS

ProjectCOMPASS: Climate-relevant Ocean Measurements and Processes on the Antarctic continental Shelf and Slope

Researcher (PI)Karen HEYWOOD

Host Institution (HI)UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA

Call DetailsAdvanced Grant (AdG), PE10, ERC-2016-ADG

SummaryProcesses on the Antarctic continental shelf and slope are crucially important for determining the rate of future sea level rise, setting the properties and volume of dense bottom water exported globally, and regulating the carbon cycle. Yet our ability to model and predict these processes over future decades remains rudimentary. This deficiency in understanding originates in a lack of observations in this inaccessible region. The COMPASS project seeks to rectify that by exploiting new technology - autonomous marine vehicles called gliders - to observe, quantify and elucidate processes on the continental shelf and slope of Antarctica that are important for climate.
The COMPASS objective is to make a step-change in our quantitative understanding of:
(i) the ocean front that marks the boundary between the Antarctic continental shelf and the open ocean, and its associated current system;
(ii) the interaction between ocean, atmosphere and sea-ice on the Antarctic continental shelf; and
(iii) the exchange of heat, salt and freshwater with the cavities beneath ice shelves.
These goals will be met by a series of targeted ocean glider campaigns around Antarctica, spanning different flow regimes, including areas where warm water is able to access the continental shelf and influence ice shelves, areas where the continental shelf is cold and fresh, and areas where the continental shelf hosts cold, salty, dense water that eventually spills into the abyss. A unique circumpolar assessment of ocean properties and dynamics, including instabilities and mixing, will be undertaken. COMPASS will develop new technology to deploy a profiling glider into inaccessible environments such as Antarctic polynyas (regions of open water surrounded by sea-ice). As well as scientific breakthroughs that will feed into future climate assessments, improving projections of future sea level rise and global temperatures, COMPASS will deliver enhanced design for future ocean observing systems.

Processes on the Antarctic continental shelf and slope are crucially important for determining the rate of future sea level rise, setting the properties and volume of dense bottom water exported globally, and regulating the carbon cycle. Yet our ability to model and predict these processes over future decades remains rudimentary. This deficiency in understanding originates in a lack of observations in this inaccessible region. The COMPASS project seeks to rectify that by exploiting new technology - autonomous marine vehicles called gliders - to observe, quantify and elucidate processes on the continental shelf and slope of Antarctica that are important for climate.
The COMPASS objective is to make a step-change in our quantitative understanding of:
(i) the ocean front that marks the boundary between the Antarctic continental shelf and the open ocean, and its associated current system;
(ii) the interaction between ocean, atmosphere and sea-ice on the Antarctic continental shelf; and
(iii) the exchange of heat, salt and freshwater with the cavities beneath ice shelves.
These goals will be met by a series of targeted ocean glider campaigns around Antarctica, spanning different flow regimes, including areas where warm water is able to access the continental shelf and influence ice shelves, areas where the continental shelf is cold and fresh, and areas where the continental shelf hosts cold, salty, dense water that eventually spills into the abyss. A unique circumpolar assessment of ocean properties and dynamics, including instabilities and mixing, will be undertaken. COMPASS will develop new technology to deploy a profiling glider into inaccessible environments such as Antarctic polynyas (regions of open water surrounded by sea-ice). As well as scientific breakthroughs that will feed into future climate assessments, improving projections of future sea level rise and global temperatures, COMPASS will deliver enhanced design for future ocean observing systems.

Max ERC Funding

3 499 270 €

Duration

Start date: 2017-09-01, End date: 2022-08-31

Project acronymConflictNET

ProjectThe Politics and Practice of Social Media in Conflict

Researcher (PI)Nicole STREMLAU

Host Institution (HI)THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

Call DetailsStarting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2016-STG

SummaryOver the next five years an unprecedented number of initiatives will coalesce, contributing to an extension of the reach of the Internet to the world’s most remote regions. While previous efforts to expand Internet access have focused on urban areas, current initiatives are leveraging new technologies from drones to satellites to provide affordable access to the worlds poorest, many of whom are in Africa and live in regions where the state is weak and there is protracted violent conflict. Current debates have largely focused on technical issues of improving access, or assumed ways that technology will help ‘liberate’ populations or improve governance. This project focuses on a key puzzle that is often overlooked: How does increased access to social media affect the balance between peace-building efforts and attempts perpetuate violence in conflict-affected communities?
With a focus on Africa (and particularly on religious and political violence in Eastern Africa), this project will investigate the relationship between social media and conflict through three research questions at the macro, meso and micro level: how are social media altering the transnational dimensions of conflict and peacebuilding? How are public authorities reacting to, and appropriating, social media to either encourage violence or promote peace? And in what ways are social media changing the way people experience, participate in, or respond to violent conflict? It will examine these questions in the context of dangerous speech online; the exit and entry of individuals away from, and into, conflict; the tactics and strategies actors adopt to shape the Internet; and how governance actors are leveraging social media in conflict-affected communities.

Over the next five years an unprecedented number of initiatives will coalesce, contributing to an extension of the reach of the Internet to the world’s most remote regions. While previous efforts to expand Internet access have focused on urban areas, current initiatives are leveraging new technologies from drones to satellites to provide affordable access to the worlds poorest, many of whom are in Africa and live in regions where the state is weak and there is protracted violent conflict. Current debates have largely focused on technical issues of improving access, or assumed ways that technology will help ‘liberate’ populations or improve governance. This project focuses on a key puzzle that is often overlooked: How does increased access to social media affect the balance between peace-building efforts and attempts perpetuate violence in conflict-affected communities?
With a focus on Africa (and particularly on religious and political violence in Eastern Africa), this project will investigate the relationship between social media and conflict through three research questions at the macro, meso and micro level: how are social media altering the transnational dimensions of conflict and peacebuilding? How are public authorities reacting to, and appropriating, social media to either encourage violence or promote peace? And in what ways are social media changing the way people experience, participate in, or respond to violent conflict? It will examine these questions in the context of dangerous speech online; the exit and entry of individuals away from, and into, conflict; the tactics and strategies actors adopt to shape the Internet; and how governance actors are leveraging social media in conflict-affected communities.

Max ERC Funding

1 499 450 €

Duration

Start date: 2017-08-01, End date: 2022-07-31

Project acronymCSRS

ProjectA Comparative Study of Resilience in Survivors of War Rape and Sexual Violence: New Directions for Transitional Justice

Researcher (PI)Janine Clark

Host Institution (HI)THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM

Call DetailsConsolidator Grant (CoG), SH2, ERC-2016-COG

SummaryThe profound trauma associated with rape and sexual violence in conflict has been extensively explored within existing scholarship. The fact that many survivors exhibit remarkable post-trauma resilience, however, remains critically under-investigated. CSRS will address this fundamental gap by undertaking a paradigm-shifting empirical study of the underlying conditions for resilience. It will then use this data to pioneer a new, survivor-centred model of transitional justice – the process of redressing the legacy of massive human rights abuses.
Using the three comparative case studies of Bosnia-Hercegovina (BiH), the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Colombia, and adopting a social-ecological approach that emphasizes the interactions between individuals and their environments, CSRS consists of two inter-linked parts. The first part will involve extensive fieldwork, using a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods, to generate a rich cross-cultural dataset that identifies and explains the key micro, meso and macro factors that foster resilience in survivors of war rape and sexual violence.
The second part of CSRS will use this dataset to build an innovative, bottom-up model of transitional justice that prioritizes the long-term needs of survivors, reflecting the project’s hypothesis that a positive correlation exists between fulfilment of needs and resilience. This model will be developed with the input of survivors in BiH, the DRC and Colombia and in consultation with transitional justice scholars and practitioners. CSRS aims to transform transitional justice theory and practice. The project outputs will therefore include both academic publications and policy reports to communicate the model to the governments of the case study countries, the United Nations and a wider international audience with the overall aim of making empowerment and resilience part of a new transitional justice agenda.

The profound trauma associated with rape and sexual violence in conflict has been extensively explored within existing scholarship. The fact that many survivors exhibit remarkable post-trauma resilience, however, remains critically under-investigated. CSRS will address this fundamental gap by undertaking a paradigm-shifting empirical study of the underlying conditions for resilience. It will then use this data to pioneer a new, survivor-centred model of transitional justice – the process of redressing the legacy of massive human rights abuses.
Using the three comparative case studies of Bosnia-Hercegovina (BiH), the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Colombia, and adopting a social-ecological approach that emphasizes the interactions between individuals and their environments, CSRS consists of two inter-linked parts. The first part will involve extensive fieldwork, using a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods, to generate a rich cross-cultural dataset that identifies and explains the key micro, meso and macro factors that foster resilience in survivors of war rape and sexual violence.
The second part of CSRS will use this dataset to build an innovative, bottom-up model of transitional justice that prioritizes the long-term needs of survivors, reflecting the project’s hypothesis that a positive correlation exists between fulfilment of needs and resilience. This model will be developed with the input of survivors in BiH, the DRC and Colombia and in consultation with transitional justice scholars and practitioners. CSRS aims to transform transitional justice theory and practice. The project outputs will therefore include both academic publications and policy reports to communicate the model to the governments of the case study countries, the United Nations and a wider international audience with the overall aim of making empowerment and resilience part of a new transitional justice agenda.

Max ERC Funding

1 790 580 €

Duration

Start date: 2017-09-01, End date: 2022-08-31

Project acronymECCLES

ProjectEmergent Constraints on Climate-Land feedbacks in the Earth System

Researcher (PI)Peter COX

Host Institution (HI)THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER

Call DetailsAdvanced Grant (AdG), PE10, ERC-2016-ADG

SummaryThe Land Biosphere is a critical component of the Earth System, linking to climate through multiple feedback processes. Understanding these feedback processes is a huge intellectual challenge. In part because of the pioneering work of the PI (Cox et al., 2000), many of the climate projections reported in the IPCC 5th Assessment Report (AR5) now include climate-carbon cycle feedbacks. However the latest Earth System Models (ESMs) continue to show a huge range in the projected responses of the land carbon cycle over the 21st century. This uncertainty threatens to undermine the value of these projections to inform climate policy. This project (ECCLES) is designed to produce significant reductions in the uncertainties associated with land-climate interactions, using the novel concept of Emergent Constraints - relationships between future projections and observable variations in the current Earth System that are common across the ensemble of ESMs. Emergent Constraints have many attractive features but chief amongst these is that they can make ensembles of ESMs more than the sum of the parts - allowing the full range of ESM projections to be used collectively, alongside key observations, to reduce uncertainties in the future climate. The project will deliver: (i) a theoretical foundation for Emergent Constraints; (ii) new datasets on the changing function of the land biosphere; (iii) Emergent Constraints on land-climate interactions based on observed temporal and spatial variations; (iv) a new generation of scientists expert in land-climate interactions and Emergent Constraints. ECCLES will benefit from the expertise and experience of the PI, which includes training as a theoretical physicist, an early career developing models of the land biosphere for ESMs, and a current career in a department of mathematics where he is at the forefront of efforts to develop and apply the concept of Emergent Constraints (Cox et al., 2013, Wenzel et al., 2016).

The Land Biosphere is a critical component of the Earth System, linking to climate through multiple feedback processes. Understanding these feedback processes is a huge intellectual challenge. In part because of the pioneering work of the PI (Cox et al., 2000), many of the climate projections reported in the IPCC 5th Assessment Report (AR5) now include climate-carbon cycle feedbacks. However the latest Earth System Models (ESMs) continue to show a huge range in the projected responses of the land carbon cycle over the 21st century. This uncertainty threatens to undermine the value of these projections to inform climate policy. This project (ECCLES) is designed to produce significant reductions in the uncertainties associated with land-climate interactions, using the novel concept of Emergent Constraints - relationships between future projections and observable variations in the current Earth System that are common across the ensemble of ESMs. Emergent Constraints have many attractive features but chief amongst these is that they can make ensembles of ESMs more than the sum of the parts - allowing the full range of ESM projections to be used collectively, alongside key observations, to reduce uncertainties in the future climate. The project will deliver: (i) a theoretical foundation for Emergent Constraints; (ii) new datasets on the changing function of the land biosphere; (iii) Emergent Constraints on land-climate interactions based on observed temporal and spatial variations; (iv) a new generation of scientists expert in land-climate interactions and Emergent Constraints. ECCLES will benefit from the expertise and experience of the PI, which includes training as a theoretical physicist, an early career developing models of the land biosphere for ESMs, and a current career in a department of mathematics where he is at the forefront of efforts to develop and apply the concept of Emergent Constraints (Cox et al., 2013, Wenzel et al., 2016).

Max ERC Funding

2 249 834 €

Duration

Start date: 2017-10-01, End date: 2022-09-30

Project acronymGEOSTICK

ProjectMorphodynamic Stickiness: the influence of physical and biological cohesion in sedimentary systems

Researcher (PI)Daniel Roy PARSONS

Host Institution (HI)UNIVERSITY OF HULL

Call DetailsConsolidator Grant (CoG), PE10, ERC-2016-COG

SummaryOur coasts, estuaries, & low-land river environments are some of the most sensitive systems to sea-level rise & environmental change. In order to manage these systems, & adapt to future changes, we desperately need to be able to predict how they will alter under various scenarios. However, our models for these environments are not yet robust enough to predict, with confidence, very far into the future. Moreover, we also need to improve how we use our understanding of modern environments in reconstructing paleo-environments, where significant assumptions have been made in the way in which relationships derived from the modern have been applied to ancient rocks.
One of the main reasons our models, & geological interpretations, of these environments, are not yet good enough is because these models have formulations that are based on assumptions that these systems are composed of only non-cohesive sands. However, mud is the most common sediment on Earth & many of these systems are actually dominated by biologically-active muds & complex sediment mixtures. We need to therefore find ways to incorporate the effect of sticky mud & sticky biological components into our predictions. Recent work my colleagues & I have published show just how important such abiotic-biotic interactions can be: inclusion of only relatively small (<0.1% by mass) quantities of biological material into sediment mixtures can reduce alluvial bedform size by an order of magnitude.
However, this is just a start & there is much to do in order to advance our fundamental understanding & develop robust models that predict the combined effects of abiotic & biotic processes on morphological evolution of these environments under changing drivers & conditions. GEOSTICK will deliver this advance allowing us to test how sensitive these environments are, assess if there are tipping points in their resilience & examine evidence for the evolution of life in the ancient sediments of early Earth and Mars.

Our coasts, estuaries, & low-land river environments are some of the most sensitive systems to sea-level rise & environmental change. In order to manage these systems, & adapt to future changes, we desperately need to be able to predict how they will alter under various scenarios. However, our models for these environments are not yet robust enough to predict, with confidence, very far into the future. Moreover, we also need to improve how we use our understanding of modern environments in reconstructing paleo-environments, where significant assumptions have been made in the way in which relationships derived from the modern have been applied to ancient rocks.
One of the main reasons our models, & geological interpretations, of these environments, are not yet good enough is because these models have formulations that are based on assumptions that these systems are composed of only non-cohesive sands. However, mud is the most common sediment on Earth & many of these systems are actually dominated by biologically-active muds & complex sediment mixtures. We need to therefore find ways to incorporate the effect of sticky mud & sticky biological components into our predictions. Recent work my colleagues & I have published show just how important such abiotic-biotic interactions can be: inclusion of only relatively small (<0.1% by mass) quantities of biological material into sediment mixtures can reduce alluvial bedform size by an order of magnitude.
However, this is just a start & there is much to do in order to advance our fundamental understanding & develop robust models that predict the combined effects of abiotic & biotic processes on morphological evolution of these environments under changing drivers & conditions. GEOSTICK will deliver this advance allowing us to test how sensitive these environments are, assess if there are tipping points in their resilience & examine evidence for the evolution of life in the ancient sediments of early Earth and Mars.

SummaryClimate change driven by CO2 emissions from human activities is a significant challenge facing mankind. An important component of Earth’s carbon (C) cycle is the ocean’s biological C pump; without it atmospheric CO2 would be ~50% higher than it is now. The pump consists of sinking organic matter which is remineralised back into CO2 in the deep ocean. The depth at which remineralisation occurs is the main factor affecting the amount of organic C stored in the ocean. Currently we do not understand how or why remineralisation depth varies in time, which limits our ability to make robust predictions of how the future C cycle, and hence our climate, will change into the future. This is mainly due to the challenges of measuring remineralisation depth using conventional methods– a barrier which autonomous underwater vehicles are poised to overcome by providing high frequency data over long periods. This technological innovation will revolutionise our understanding of this important planetary C flux.
I propose an ambitious project to address current uncertainties in remineralisation depth. GOCART encompasses new observations, obtained using cutting-edge technology and novel methodology, through to global climate modelling. Underwater glider deployments will be used to establish the characteristics and significance of temporal variability in organic C flux and remineralisation depth during the most dynamic period of the year. This will enable new insights into the factors driving variability in remineralisation depth, ultimately leading to development of a new model parameterisation incorporating temporal variability. Using an innovative modelling framework, this parameterisation will be tested for its potential to improve predictions of ocean C storage. GOCART represents a significant advance in quantifying temporal variability in remineralisation depth, which is key to reducing uncertainty in model predictions of ocean C storage, and yet currently almost entirely unknown.

Climate change driven by CO2 emissions from human activities is a significant challenge facing mankind. An important component of Earth’s carbon (C) cycle is the ocean’s biological C pump; without it atmospheric CO2 would be ~50% higher than it is now. The pump consists of sinking organic matter which is remineralised back into CO2 in the deep ocean. The depth at which remineralisation occurs is the main factor affecting the amount of organic C stored in the ocean. Currently we do not understand how or why remineralisation depth varies in time, which limits our ability to make robust predictions of how the future C cycle, and hence our climate, will change into the future. This is mainly due to the challenges of measuring remineralisation depth using conventional methods– a barrier which autonomous underwater vehicles are poised to overcome by providing high frequency data over long periods. This technological innovation will revolutionise our understanding of this important planetary C flux.
I propose an ambitious project to address current uncertainties in remineralisation depth. GOCART encompasses new observations, obtained using cutting-edge technology and novel methodology, through to global climate modelling. Underwater glider deployments will be used to establish the characteristics and significance of temporal variability in organic C flux and remineralisation depth during the most dynamic period of the year. This will enable new insights into the factors driving variability in remineralisation depth, ultimately leading to development of a new model parameterisation incorporating temporal variability. Using an innovative modelling framework, this parameterisation will be tested for its potential to improve predictions of ocean C storage. GOCART represents a significant advance in quantifying temporal variability in remineralisation depth, which is key to reducing uncertainty in model predictions of ocean C storage, and yet currently almost entirely unknown.

Max ERC Funding

1 999 110 €

Duration

Start date: 2017-09-01, End date: 2022-08-31

Project acronymITHACA

ProjectAn Information Theoretic Approach to Improving the Reliability of Weather and Climate Simulations

Researcher (PI)Timothy PALMER

Host Institution (HI)THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

Call DetailsAdvanced Grant (AdG), PE10, ERC-2016-ADG

SummaryThe aim of this project is to develop a new synergy between climate and computer science to increase the accuracy and hence reliability of comprehensive weather and climate models. The scientific basis for this project lies in the PI’s pioneering research on stochastic sub-grid parametrisations for climate models. These parametrisations provide estimates of irreducible uncertainty in weather and climate models, and will be used to determine where numerical precision for model variables can be reduced without degradation. By identifying those bits that carry negligible information – typically in high-wavenumber components of the dynamical core and within parametrisation and Earth-System modules – computational resources can be reinvested into areas (resolution, process representation, ensemble size) where they are sorely needed. This project will determine scale-dependent estimates of information content as rigorously as possible based on a variety of new tools, which include information-theoretic diagnostics and emulators of imprecision, and in a variety of models, from idealised to comprehensive. The project will contribute significantly to the development of next-generation weather and climate models and is well timed for the advent of exascale supercomputing where energy efficiency is paramount and where movement of bits, being the single biggest determinant of power consumption, must be minimised. The ideas will be tested on emerging hardware capable of exploiting the benefits of mixed-precision arithmetic. A testable scientific hypothesis is presented: a proposed increase in forecast reliability arising from an increase in the forecast model’s vertical resolution, the cost being paid for by a reduction in precision of small-scale variables. This project can be expected to provide new scientific understanding of how different scales interact in the nonlinear climate system, for example in maintaining persistent atmospheric flow regimes.

The aim of this project is to develop a new synergy between climate and computer science to increase the accuracy and hence reliability of comprehensive weather and climate models. The scientific basis for this project lies in the PI’s pioneering research on stochastic sub-grid parametrisations for climate models. These parametrisations provide estimates of irreducible uncertainty in weather and climate models, and will be used to determine where numerical precision for model variables can be reduced without degradation. By identifying those bits that carry negligible information – typically in high-wavenumber components of the dynamical core and within parametrisation and Earth-System modules – computational resources can be reinvested into areas (resolution, process representation, ensemble size) where they are sorely needed. This project will determine scale-dependent estimates of information content as rigorously as possible based on a variety of new tools, which include information-theoretic diagnostics and emulators of imprecision, and in a variety of models, from idealised to comprehensive. The project will contribute significantly to the development of next-generation weather and climate models and is well timed for the advent of exascale supercomputing where energy efficiency is paramount and where movement of bits, being the single biggest determinant of power consumption, must be minimised. The ideas will be tested on emerging hardware capable of exploiting the benefits of mixed-precision arithmetic. A testable scientific hypothesis is presented: a proposed increase in forecast reliability arising from an increase in the forecast model’s vertical resolution, the cost being paid for by a reduction in precision of small-scale variables. This project can be expected to provide new scientific understanding of how different scales interact in the nonlinear climate system, for example in maintaining persistent atmospheric flow regimes.

Max ERC Funding

2 494 117 €

Duration

Start date: 2017-10-01, End date: 2022-09-30

Project acronymMICA

ProjectMechanics of slow earthquake phenomena: an Integrated perspective from the Composition, geometry, And rheology of plate boundary faults

Researcher (PI)Ake Fagereng

Host Institution (HI)CARDIFF UNIVERSITY

Call DetailsStarting Grant (StG), PE10, ERC-2016-STG

SummaryMajor tectonic faults have, until recently, been thought to accommodate displacement by either continuous creep or episodic, damaging earthquakes. High-resolution geophysical networks have now detected ‘slow earthquakes’, transient modes of displacement that are faster than creep but slower than earthquakes. This project aims to illuminate the unknown mechanism behind slow earthquakes, through an integrated, multi-scale approach. MICA uses the unique natural laboratory of exhumed and active faults, to build numerical models constrained by observed fault geometry and microstructurally defined deformation mechanisms, to determine, for the first time, the rheology of slow slip.
The first objective is to create a model of the slow earthquake source, to constrain the micro- to kilometre-scale internal geometry of plate boundary faults, and the spatial distribution of deformation mechanisms. Fault rocks also retain a deformation sequence, allowing insight to how deformation style evolves with time. Thus, a combination of drill samples from active faults and outcrops of exhumed analogues, from a range of depths, allows for a 4-D model from micro- to plate boundary scale.
By knowing the geometrical distribution of fault rocks, and deciphering their evolution in time, this project will apply geologically constrained numerical models and laboratory constrained stress-strain relationships to determine bulk fault rheology as a function of space. Unique from past models, this project integrates scales from microstructures to plate boundary scale faults, and bases rheological models on deformation mechanisms and fault structures constrained through detailed fieldwork, and also considers the state-of-the-art of geophysical observation. The model focuses on understanding slow earthquakes, but also applies to understanding whether the slow earthquake source can also host fast seismic slip, and what differentiates slowly slipping faults from faults hosting major earthquakes.

Major tectonic faults have, until recently, been thought to accommodate displacement by either continuous creep or episodic, damaging earthquakes. High-resolution geophysical networks have now detected ‘slow earthquakes’, transient modes of displacement that are faster than creep but slower than earthquakes. This project aims to illuminate the unknown mechanism behind slow earthquakes, through an integrated, multi-scale approach. MICA uses the unique natural laboratory of exhumed and active faults, to build numerical models constrained by observed fault geometry and microstructurally defined deformation mechanisms, to determine, for the first time, the rheology of slow slip.
The first objective is to create a model of the slow earthquake source, to constrain the micro- to kilometre-scale internal geometry of plate boundary faults, and the spatial distribution of deformation mechanisms. Fault rocks also retain a deformation sequence, allowing insight to how deformation style evolves with time. Thus, a combination of drill samples from active faults and outcrops of exhumed analogues, from a range of depths, allows for a 4-D model from micro- to plate boundary scale.
By knowing the geometrical distribution of fault rocks, and deciphering their evolution in time, this project will apply geologically constrained numerical models and laboratory constrained stress-strain relationships to determine bulk fault rheology as a function of space. Unique from past models, this project integrates scales from microstructures to plate boundary scale faults, and bases rheological models on deformation mechanisms and fault structures constrained through detailed fieldwork, and also considers the state-of-the-art of geophysical observation. The model focuses on understanding slow earthquakes, but also applies to understanding whether the slow earthquake source can also host fast seismic slip, and what differentiates slowly slipping faults from faults hosting major earthquakes.

Max ERC Funding

1 499 244 €

Duration

Start date: 2017-02-01, End date: 2022-01-31

Project acronymMINORG

ProjectThe role of minerals in the oceanic carbon cycle

Researcher (PI)Caroline Louise Peacock

Host Institution (HI)UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS

Call DetailsConsolidator Grant (CoG), PE10, ERC-2016-COG

SummaryThe oceanic carbon cycle is key for regulating the Earth system because, in sediments and seawater, the balance between the degradation and preservation of organic carbon (OC) exerts a first order control on atmospheric CO2 and O2. In sediments, OC is preserved over millions of years, while in seawater, a dissolved form of recalcitrant OC has been recently recognised as critical to OC storage over anthropogenic timescales. Both sedimentary and seawater OC are derived from living organisms, and should therefore be easily degraded. Their persistence is therefore profoundly puzzling. Quite simply we do not know how or why OC is preserved. A long-standing hypothesis suggests that protection of OC inside minerals might account for the vast OC stores preserved in sediments. In a NEW hypothesis, based on recent work by the PI and proposed here for the first time, the interaction of OC with minerals might ALSO account for the even larger stores of dissolved OC preserved in seawater. Together these concepts could revolutionise our understanding of OC degradation and preservation, but the extent to which minerals preserve OC in sediments and seawater is (still) unknown, largely because the mechanisms that control how OC interacts with minerals are almost entirely unconstrained. MINORG will quantify the role of minerals in the preservation of OC for the first time, by combining cutting-edge molecular-level techniques with the first ever comprehensive and fully integrated experimental and modelling campaign, to determine in unprecedented detail the exact mechanisms responsible for the interaction of OC with minerals, and its subsequent degradation and preservation behaviour. MINORG hypothesises that minerals play a MAJOR role in the preservation of OC, in both its sedimentary and seawater forms, and is uniquely poised to test this. This project will majorly contribute to our quantitative understanding of the oceanic carbon cycle, and so to predicting current climate change.

The oceanic carbon cycle is key for regulating the Earth system because, in sediments and seawater, the balance between the degradation and preservation of organic carbon (OC) exerts a first order control on atmospheric CO2 and O2. In sediments, OC is preserved over millions of years, while in seawater, a dissolved form of recalcitrant OC has been recently recognised as critical to OC storage over anthropogenic timescales. Both sedimentary and seawater OC are derived from living organisms, and should therefore be easily degraded. Their persistence is therefore profoundly puzzling. Quite simply we do not know how or why OC is preserved. A long-standing hypothesis suggests that protection of OC inside minerals might account for the vast OC stores preserved in sediments. In a NEW hypothesis, based on recent work by the PI and proposed here for the first time, the interaction of OC with minerals might ALSO account for the even larger stores of dissolved OC preserved in seawater. Together these concepts could revolutionise our understanding of OC degradation and preservation, but the extent to which minerals preserve OC in sediments and seawater is (still) unknown, largely because the mechanisms that control how OC interacts with minerals are almost entirely unconstrained. MINORG will quantify the role of minerals in the preservation of OC for the first time, by combining cutting-edge molecular-level techniques with the first ever comprehensive and fully integrated experimental and modelling campaign, to determine in unprecedented detail the exact mechanisms responsible for the interaction of OC with minerals, and its subsequent degradation and preservation behaviour. MINORG hypothesises that minerals play a MAJOR role in the preservation of OC, in both its sedimentary and seawater forms, and is uniquely poised to test this. This project will majorly contribute to our quantitative understanding of the oceanic carbon cycle, and so to predicting current climate change.

Max ERC Funding

1 985 996 €

Duration

Start date: 2017-06-01, End date: 2022-05-31

Project acronymN4I_CLUSTERS

ProjectNetworking for innovation: how entrepreneurs' network behaviours help clusters to innovate

Researcher (PI)Leendert Johannes TER WAL

Host Institution (HI)IMPERIAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND MEDICINE

Call DetailsStarting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2016-STG

SummaryIn recent years, economic geography has strongly embraced the relational approach: entrepreneurs striving to generate innovations have been shown to benefit from embeddedness in local, cohesive networks if these are combined with connectivity to sparse, global ties that bring diversity. With this heightened importance of networks for innovation, it is rather surprising that academic research has nearly entirely overlooked the role of “networking”. Networks are portrayed as if they are formed exclusively through latent preferences to connect with certain people or through contextual factors that make people accidently connect. This leaves little space for entrepreneurs’ deliberate attempts to create the social capital they believe will help them innovate. We thus lack the micro-level theoretical foundations of the network-innovation relationship in economic geography. My research aims to build these foundations by developing a network behavioural approach to innovation in entrepreneurial clusters. I seek to investigate how within-cluster variation in entrepreneurs’ innovation performance may originate in differences in network behaviour and how between-cluster variation in performance may originate in the spread of effective network behaviours within but not between clusters. Answers to these questions should lead to fundamentally new insights into why certain clusters thrive as hubs of innovation and why certain entrepreneurs within clusters contribute more to the innovation in clusters than others. I will collect granular qualitative and quantitative data of the network behaviours of entrepreneurs through interviews, multi-wave surveys and online network monitoring tools to unveil how they decide which ties to build and which ones to call on in specific situations. I will then assess how these behaviours enable or constrain entrepreneurs and, in aggregate, clusters to innovate using large-scale econometric analyses as well social science experiments.

In recent years, economic geography has strongly embraced the relational approach: entrepreneurs striving to generate innovations have been shown to benefit from embeddedness in local, cohesive networks if these are combined with connectivity to sparse, global ties that bring diversity. With this heightened importance of networks for innovation, it is rather surprising that academic research has nearly entirely overlooked the role of “networking”. Networks are portrayed as if they are formed exclusively through latent preferences to connect with certain people or through contextual factors that make people accidently connect. This leaves little space for entrepreneurs’ deliberate attempts to create the social capital they believe will help them innovate. We thus lack the micro-level theoretical foundations of the network-innovation relationship in economic geography. My research aims to build these foundations by developing a network behavioural approach to innovation in entrepreneurial clusters. I seek to investigate how within-cluster variation in entrepreneurs’ innovation performance may originate in differences in network behaviour and how between-cluster variation in performance may originate in the spread of effective network behaviours within but not between clusters. Answers to these questions should lead to fundamentally new insights into why certain clusters thrive as hubs of innovation and why certain entrepreneurs within clusters contribute more to the innovation in clusters than others. I will collect granular qualitative and quantitative data of the network behaviours of entrepreneurs through interviews, multi-wave surveys and online network monitoring tools to unveil how they decide which ties to build and which ones to call on in specific situations. I will then assess how these behaviours enable or constrain entrepreneurs and, in aggregate, clusters to innovate using large-scale econometric analyses as well social science experiments.

Max ERC Funding

1 334 616 €

Duration

Start date: 2017-03-01, End date: 2022-02-28

Project acronymPASTRES

ProjectPastoralism, Uncertainty and Resilience: Global Lessons from the Margins

Researcher (PI)Ian Christofer SCOONES

Host Institution (HI)INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

Call DetailsAdvanced Grant (AdG), SH2, ERC-2016-ADG

SummaryExisting institutions, legal frameworks and governance systems are not equipped to respond to growing global uncertainties and the challenges of building resilience. Radical new thinking is needed. Important lessons potentially can come from surprising quarters. Drawing insights from pastoral areas across three continents, we will ask: What lessons can we learn from pastoral systems responding to rapid change that help us understand how to live with uncertainty and build resilience? Learning from the margins – through a reversal in conventional policy learning and debate - this project will draw out principles from deeply-embedded, culturally-rich responses to rapid change and uncertainty in pastoral areas in Africa (Borana, Ethiopia), Asia (Qinghai-Tibet, China) and Europe (Sardinia, Italy).
Working in a world-class team - including the PI (Prof. Ian Scoones), an experienced post-doctoral researcher (Dr Michele Nori) and three PhD students, together with local partners - we will explore how to respond to uncertainty and build resilience across three themes: i) environment and resources, ii) commodification and markets and iii) institutions and governance, while building the interdisciplinary research capacities of the team.
Through a process of theory-building, emerging from detailed empirical research in our three sites, we will engage in dialogue with wider debates across five areas – environmental and climate change, finance and commodity markets, infrastructure design, migration policy and conflict and security - about how to respond to risk and uncertainty and build resilience, offering both new theory and practical responses. The research will significantly extend past work through a path-breaking, cross-disciplinary reconceptualization of uncertainty and resilience, linking the experiences of marginal pastoralists to wider, global resilience challenges.

Existing institutions, legal frameworks and governance systems are not equipped to respond to growing global uncertainties and the challenges of building resilience. Radical new thinking is needed. Important lessons potentially can come from surprising quarters. Drawing insights from pastoral areas across three continents, we will ask: What lessons can we learn from pastoral systems responding to rapid change that help us understand how to live with uncertainty and build resilience? Learning from the margins – through a reversal in conventional policy learning and debate - this project will draw out principles from deeply-embedded, culturally-rich responses to rapid change and uncertainty in pastoral areas in Africa (Borana, Ethiopia), Asia (Qinghai-Tibet, China) and Europe (Sardinia, Italy).
Working in a world-class team - including the PI (Prof. Ian Scoones), an experienced post-doctoral researcher (Dr Michele Nori) and three PhD students, together with local partners - we will explore how to respond to uncertainty and build resilience across three themes: i) environment and resources, ii) commodification and markets and iii) institutions and governance, while building the interdisciplinary research capacities of the team.
Through a process of theory-building, emerging from detailed empirical research in our three sites, we will engage in dialogue with wider debates across five areas – environmental and climate change, finance and commodity markets, infrastructure design, migration policy and conflict and security - about how to respond to risk and uncertainty and build resilience, offering both new theory and practical responses. The research will significantly extend past work through a path-breaking, cross-disciplinary reconceptualization of uncertainty and resilience, linking the experiences of marginal pastoralists to wider, global resilience challenges.

Max ERC Funding

2 499 127 €

Duration

Start date: 2017-10-01, End date: 2022-09-30

Project acronymRECAP

ProjectconstRaining the EffeCts of Aerosols on Precipitation

Researcher (PI)Philip STIER

Host Institution (HI)THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

Call DetailsConsolidator Grant (CoG), PE10, ERC-2016-COG

SummaryPrecipitation is of fundamental importance so it is vital to understand its response to anthropogenic perturbations. Aerosols have been proposed to significantly affect precipitation [e.g. Ramanathan et al., 2001]. However, despite major research efforts evidence for a systematic aerosol effect on precipitation remains “ambiguous” [IPCC AR5, Stocker et al., 2013].
The vast majority of prior research [even an entire World Meteorological Organisation assessment report: Levin and Cotton, 2009] has taken a process-driven approach: trying to infer aerosol effects on precipitation through modelling/observing the chain of microphysical processes: from aerosols acting as cloud condensation / ice nuclei via cloud microphysics to precipitation formation of individual clouds. However, this relies on a complete understanding of a very complex and uncertain process chain and there exist no clear strategies to scale the response of individual clouds or cloud systems to larger scales.
RECAP will break this deadlock, introducing a radically different approach to aerosol effects on precipitation. RECAP will systematically constrain the energetic control of aerosol effects on precipitation across scales, delivering the first comprehensive and physically consistent assessment of the effect of aerosols on precipitation across scales, uniting energetic and process-driven approaches.

Precipitation is of fundamental importance so it is vital to understand its response to anthropogenic perturbations. Aerosols have been proposed to significantly affect precipitation [e.g. Ramanathan et al., 2001]. However, despite major research efforts evidence for a systematic aerosol effect on precipitation remains “ambiguous” [IPCC AR5, Stocker et al., 2013].
The vast majority of prior research [even an entire World Meteorological Organisation assessment report: Levin and Cotton, 2009] has taken a process-driven approach: trying to infer aerosol effects on precipitation through modelling/observing the chain of microphysical processes: from aerosols acting as cloud condensation / ice nuclei via cloud microphysics to precipitation formation of individual clouds. However, this relies on a complete understanding of a very complex and uncertain process chain and there exist no clear strategies to scale the response of individual clouds or cloud systems to larger scales.
RECAP will break this deadlock, introducing a radically different approach to aerosol effects on precipitation. RECAP will systematically constrain the energetic control of aerosol effects on precipitation across scales, delivering the first comprehensive and physically consistent assessment of the effect of aerosols on precipitation across scales, uniting energetic and process-driven approaches.

Host Institution (HI)THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

Call DetailsStarting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2016-STG

SummaryThis project begins with the basic premise that refugees are migrants: by legal definition and political conception, they have left their home countries to seek refuge. This project aims to re-assess refugee protection through a lens of mobility and migration, locating the study of refugee law in the context of the refugee regime. It examines the three key aspects of refugee law – access to protection, refugee status determination, and refugee rights – bringing them into conversation with the refugee regime’s norms and practices on responsibility-sharing and solutions. Crucially, the project takes a long and broad view of refugee protection, in order to open up new possibilities and trajectories. It also integrates a legal assessment of the role of non-state actors in refugee protection. Using the broad notion of ‘intermediary’ in the migration process, it will assess the regulatory environment on access to protection, so-called ‘secondary movement’ and onward migration. It will provide an important legal assessment of the role of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the duties of humanitarian actors in refugee protection. It addresses the EU, not as a singularity, but as an actor in the global regime.
The project is methodologically ground-breaking. It identifies practices that determine access to and the quality of refugee protection, and how these practices have developed across jurisdictions and over time, thereby historicizing and reframing the practices in question. As well as rigorous doctrinal (‘black letter’) legal analysis, it will use go beyond doctrine, and draw on theoretical conceptions of legality to explore the particular modes of regulating mobility and migration that are now central to refugee protection. It will also develop new inter-disciplinary methods, using comparative legal, historical and political-scientific tools.

This project begins with the basic premise that refugees are migrants: by legal definition and political conception, they have left their home countries to seek refuge. This project aims to re-assess refugee protection through a lens of mobility and migration, locating the study of refugee law in the context of the refugee regime. It examines the three key aspects of refugee law – access to protection, refugee status determination, and refugee rights – bringing them into conversation with the refugee regime’s norms and practices on responsibility-sharing and solutions. Crucially, the project takes a long and broad view of refugee protection, in order to open up new possibilities and trajectories. It also integrates a legal assessment of the role of non-state actors in refugee protection. Using the broad notion of ‘intermediary’ in the migration process, it will assess the regulatory environment on access to protection, so-called ‘secondary movement’ and onward migration. It will provide an important legal assessment of the role of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the duties of humanitarian actors in refugee protection. It addresses the EU, not as a singularity, but as an actor in the global regime.
The project is methodologically ground-breaking. It identifies practices that determine access to and the quality of refugee protection, and how these practices have developed across jurisdictions and over time, thereby historicizing and reframing the practices in question. As well as rigorous doctrinal (‘black letter’) legal analysis, it will use go beyond doctrine, and draw on theoretical conceptions of legality to explore the particular modes of regulating mobility and migration that are now central to refugee protection. It will also develop new inter-disciplinary methods, using comparative legal, historical and political-scientific tools.

SummaryWe live in a time of profound environmental change. Phenomena such as urbanisation and agricultural intensification have led to ecosystem degradation and species extinctions, and thus a reduction in biodiversity. Yet, while it is now widely asserted in the research, policy and practice arenas that interacting with nature is fundamental to human wellbeing, there is a paucity of evidence characterising how biodiversity, the living component of nature, plays a role in this accepted truth. With RELATE, I will pioneer a completely novel approach to investigating this challenging problem, innovating through interdisciplinary (human geography, environmental psychology, economics and ecology) integration and the use of both qualitative and quantitative methods. As such, RELATE will initiate a step-change in our understanding of how nature underpins human wellbeing. Three objectives will be met: (1) explore how people relate to different biodiversity attributes (particular morphologies, sounds, smells, textures, behaviours and/or cultural meanings associated with species), positively and negatively, across all classes of cultural ecosystem service and types of human-nature experience (intentional, incidental, indirect, thereness); (2) quantify variation in how people value, or not, different biodiversity attributes using a range of monetary and non-monetary valuation techniques, including new subjective wellbeing measures; (3) understand how co-occurrence between biodiversity and people may alter across space/time (both seasonal and inter-decadal), and the impact this may have on human-biodiversity relationships. The crucial trade-offs decision-makers tasked with managing environmental spaces have to make between multiple biodiversity, individual and societal deliverables cannot be optimised until we understand human-biodiversity relationships specifically. Consequently, RELATE will deliver a timely, rich and holistic evidence-base, supported by transformative science.

We live in a time of profound environmental change. Phenomena such as urbanisation and agricultural intensification have led to ecosystem degradation and species extinctions, and thus a reduction in biodiversity. Yet, while it is now widely asserted in the research, policy and practice arenas that interacting with nature is fundamental to human wellbeing, there is a paucity of evidence characterising how biodiversity, the living component of nature, plays a role in this accepted truth. With RELATE, I will pioneer a completely novel approach to investigating this challenging problem, innovating through interdisciplinary (human geography, environmental psychology, economics and ecology) integration and the use of both qualitative and quantitative methods. As such, RELATE will initiate a step-change in our understanding of how nature underpins human wellbeing. Three objectives will be met: (1) explore how people relate to different biodiversity attributes (particular morphologies, sounds, smells, textures, behaviours and/or cultural meanings associated with species), positively and negatively, across all classes of cultural ecosystem service and types of human-nature experience (intentional, incidental, indirect, thereness); (2) quantify variation in how people value, or not, different biodiversity attributes using a range of monetary and non-monetary valuation techniques, including new subjective wellbeing measures; (3) understand how co-occurrence between biodiversity and people may alter across space/time (both seasonal and inter-decadal), and the impact this may have on human-biodiversity relationships. The crucial trade-offs decision-makers tasked with managing environmental spaces have to make between multiple biodiversity, individual and societal deliverables cannot be optimised until we understand human-biodiversity relationships specifically. Consequently, RELATE will deliver a timely, rich and holistic evidence-base, supported by transformative science.

Max ERC Funding

1 953 716 €

Duration

Start date: 2017-10-01, End date: 2022-09-30

Project acronymSSID

ProjectSoundscape Indices

Researcher (PI)Jian KANG

Host Institution (HI)UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON

Call DetailsAdvanced Grant (AdG), SH2, ERC-2016-ADG

SummaryEighty million EU citizens are suffering from excessive environmental noise and billions of euros are being spent on noise control, under the EU Directive on Environmental Noise. Unfortunately, the conventional approach, i.e. reduction of ‘sound level’, simply does not deliver the required improvements in quality of life. The growing field of ‘soundscape studies’ is addressing this gap by considering sound environment as perceived, in context, with an interdisciplinary approach. However, soundscapes are hugely complex and measuring them as a basis for environmental design requires a step change to the discipline. This research aims to achieve a ground-breaking development through the establishment of ‘soundscape indices’ (SSID), adequately reflecting levels of human comfort, the impact of which will be reminiscent of that of the Decibel scale created by Bell Systems a century ago. This will provide the underpinning science for soundscape in the field of built environment, with wider intellectual goals of moving from noise control to soundscape creation. Key objectives, as coherent steps for achieving the main aim, are: (1) To characterise soundscapes, by capturing soundscapes and establishing a comprehensive database, which will be a cornerstone for the proposed analysis, and an invaluable resource for scientists for years to come. (2) To determine key factors and their influence on soundscape quality based on the database, by conducting laboratory psychological evaluation, physical/psychoacoustic factors analysis, and more importantly, to research at a physiological/biological level, including the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging. (3) To develop, test and validate the soundscape indices, through analysing the influences by various factors, using a number of inter- & trans-disciplinary approaches. (4) To demonstrate the applicability of the soundscape indices in practice, by establishing frameworks for soundscape prediction, design, and standardisation.

Eighty million EU citizens are suffering from excessive environmental noise and billions of euros are being spent on noise control, under the EU Directive on Environmental Noise. Unfortunately, the conventional approach, i.e. reduction of ‘sound level’, simply does not deliver the required improvements in quality of life. The growing field of ‘soundscape studies’ is addressing this gap by considering sound environment as perceived, in context, with an interdisciplinary approach. However, soundscapes are hugely complex and measuring them as a basis for environmental design requires a step change to the discipline. This research aims to achieve a ground-breaking development through the establishment of ‘soundscape indices’ (SSID), adequately reflecting levels of human comfort, the impact of which will be reminiscent of that of the Decibel scale created by Bell Systems a century ago. This will provide the underpinning science for soundscape in the field of built environment, with wider intellectual goals of moving from noise control to soundscape creation. Key objectives, as coherent steps for achieving the main aim, are: (1) To characterise soundscapes, by capturing soundscapes and establishing a comprehensive database, which will be a cornerstone for the proposed analysis, and an invaluable resource for scientists for years to come. (2) To determine key factors and their influence on soundscape quality based on the database, by conducting laboratory psychological evaluation, physical/psychoacoustic factors analysis, and more importantly, to research at a physiological/biological level, including the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging. (3) To develop, test and validate the soundscape indices, through analysing the influences by various factors, using a number of inter- & trans-disciplinary approaches. (4) To demonstrate the applicability of the soundscape indices in practice, by establishing frameworks for soundscape prediction, design, and standardisation.

Max ERC Funding

2 492 201 €

Duration

Start date: 2018-03-01, End date: 2023-02-28

Project acronymVERSUS

ProjectViolence Elites and Resilience in States Under Stress

Researcher (PI)Clionadh RALEIGH

Host Institution (HI)THE UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX

Call DetailsConsolidator Grant (CoG), SH2, ERC-2016-COG

SummaryPolitical violence affects 2 billion citizens across the developing world. Conflict contributes to political decline, high corruption and poverty, poor social cohesion and low institutional trust. VERSUS represents a new direction in political, geographic and empirical subnational studies of conflict and governance. It determines how violence erupts from political processes in varied environments and examines how common internal and external shocks create new trajectories of governance, violence and potential for political resilience. It argues that political relationships between subnational elites and regimes incentivise political violence in developing states. Through a suite of multi-and-mixed methods including power mapping, extensive elite interviews, Bayesian spatial models and dynamic network innovations, VERSUS creates multiple real-time measures of power distribution across select African, Middle Eastern and Asian states for widespread research and policy use. It has five objectives: to advance a developing paradigm on subnational political architectures and environments over static institutionalism; to generate several measures of comparative political power distributions in developing states that capture the degree and depth of regime and elite relationships; to design and test scenarios to explain how, when and where violence erupts as a strategic function of architectures and environments; to develop and implement novel conflict ‘resilience’ tests of regimes, elites and vulnerable members of society in response to internal and external shocks. This creates a state’s ‘carrying capacity’ for shocks and violence; and finally, to collaborate with development practitioners and civil society to implement new standards for elite transparency, support for human rights and ‘good governance’ outcomes.

Political violence affects 2 billion citizens across the developing world. Conflict contributes to political decline, high corruption and poverty, poor social cohesion and low institutional trust. VERSUS represents a new direction in political, geographic and empirical subnational studies of conflict and governance. It determines how violence erupts from political processes in varied environments and examines how common internal and external shocks create new trajectories of governance, violence and potential for political resilience. It argues that political relationships between subnational elites and regimes incentivise political violence in developing states. Through a suite of multi-and-mixed methods including power mapping, extensive elite interviews, Bayesian spatial models and dynamic network innovations, VERSUS creates multiple real-time measures of power distribution across select African, Middle Eastern and Asian states for widespread research and policy use. It has five objectives: to advance a developing paradigm on subnational political architectures and environments over static institutionalism; to generate several measures of comparative political power distributions in developing states that capture the degree and depth of regime and elite relationships; to design and test scenarios to explain how, when and where violence erupts as a strategic function of architectures and environments; to develop and implement novel conflict ‘resilience’ tests of regimes, elites and vulnerable members of society in response to internal and external shocks. This creates a state’s ‘carrying capacity’ for shocks and violence; and finally, to collaborate with development practitioners and civil society to implement new standards for elite transparency, support for human rights and ‘good governance’ outcomes.

Max ERC Funding

1 999 390 €

Duration

Start date: 2017-09-01, End date: 2022-08-31

Project acronymWACSWAIN

ProjectWArm Climate Stability of the West Antarctic ice sheet in the last INterglacial (WACSWAIN)

Researcher (PI)Eric WOLFF

Host Institution (HI)THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

Call DetailsAdvanced Grant (AdG), PE10, ERC-2016-ADG

SummaryRecent papers predict the loss of most of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) by 2500 if CO2 emissions and rising global temperatures are not controlled. It is critical to test whether the models making such worrying predictions are realistic. I will do this by obtaining new data from the last interglacial (LIG, 130,000-115,000 years ago) to assess the response of the WAIS to comparable warmth.
During the LIG, sea level reached 6-9 m higher than today. It is inferred that Antarctic ice sheets contributed several metres of sea level rise, under a climate similar to the one we could be committing ourselves to in the next few centuries. Most authors assume that the lost ice came mainly from the WAIS. Models that predict large ice loss in the future also produce a very significant retreat of the WAIS and loss of the Ross and Ronne ice shelves under LIG conditions.
Were the WAIS and Ronne Ice Shelf significantly smaller in the LIG? If so, what was the time course of their retreat and regrowth? This project will remedy the surprising lack of direct evidence about these questions. I will examine data from ice cores that reach the LIG, drilled on the periphery of the WAIS. I will include retrieval of one new strategically-placed bedrock core, and obtain an isotope profile that will test the potential of another site. The loss of much of the WAIS would have several effects on peripheral ice caps: glacio-isostatic (GI) uplift and a change in atmospheric circulation would cause a recognisable spatial and temporal pattern of symptoms. The retreat of the Ronne Ice Shelf would leave a clear signature in marine aerosol concentrations in the ice. By examining changes in water isotopes, sea salt, air content and other proxies in all the cores, in comparison with different model outputs, I will estimate the timing and extent of WAIS retreat and regrowth during the LIG. This will support or question the use of sensitive models to predict future change in the WAIS.

Recent papers predict the loss of most of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) by 2500 if CO2 emissions and rising global temperatures are not controlled. It is critical to test whether the models making such worrying predictions are realistic. I will do this by obtaining new data from the last interglacial (LIG, 130,000-115,000 years ago) to assess the response of the WAIS to comparable warmth.
During the LIG, sea level reached 6-9 m higher than today. It is inferred that Antarctic ice sheets contributed several metres of sea level rise, under a climate similar to the one we could be committing ourselves to in the next few centuries. Most authors assume that the lost ice came mainly from the WAIS. Models that predict large ice loss in the future also produce a very significant retreat of the WAIS and loss of the Ross and Ronne ice shelves under LIG conditions.
Were the WAIS and Ronne Ice Shelf significantly smaller in the LIG? If so, what was the time course of their retreat and regrowth? This project will remedy the surprising lack of direct evidence about these questions. I will examine data from ice cores that reach the LIG, drilled on the periphery of the WAIS. I will include retrieval of one new strategically-placed bedrock core, and obtain an isotope profile that will test the potential of another site. The loss of much of the WAIS would have several effects on peripheral ice caps: glacio-isostatic (GI) uplift and a change in atmospheric circulation would cause a recognisable spatial and temporal pattern of symptoms. The retreat of the Ronne Ice Shelf would leave a clear signature in marine aerosol concentrations in the ice. By examining changes in water isotopes, sea salt, air content and other proxies in all the cores, in comparison with different model outputs, I will estimate the timing and extent of WAIS retreat and regrowth during the LIG. This will support or question the use of sensitive models to predict future change in the WAIS.